


The Dare

by Elrewin



Series: AXG Week 2014 [2]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:14:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2008794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elrewin/pseuds/Elrewin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In his entire life, Gendry had never met someone as brazen, brave and stubborn as Arya Stark. She was the most daring person he knew. She wasn't afraid of anything, to his big displeasure – a little bit of fear would make his life much easier.</p>
<p>But as it happens, it's also the cause of one of his greatest pleasures.</p>
<p>Work done as day 1 of AXG Week, "Dare".</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Dare

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's reversed, but this work is much longer than the previous and thus took me longer. As always, enjoy !

In his entire life, Gendry had never met someone as brazen, brave and stubborn as Arya Stark. Seriously, this girl would do anything that went through her head, no matter how dangerous or forbidden it was. He was hanging out with her half because he liked her, half because he was afraid she would get herself killed if he didn't watch out for her.

She was the most daring person he knew. She was also very proud ; infortunately, the two combined didn't work very well. If you wanted something done all you had to do was to dare her (it didn't work everytime but well enough). She wasn't afraid of anything, to his big displeasure – a little bit of fear would make his life much easier.

Actually, that was how she and him met. He was fifteen but he already worked at his foster father's garage ; she was barely eleven. The neighborhood where he lived was dirty, creepy and everybody was very careful not to walk there alone at night ; but despite (or because of) it, it also landed the best parties in town where booze, cigarettes and other less legal substances flowed freely. Gendry was in a bad time of his life at that moment, wondering what was his worth, and he often attended them. Arya never did (it would have been worrying if she had). Afterwards she told him she was looking for her brother Jon, who apparently was there and she was worried about him – and so had followed him into one of the most dangerous neighborhood of the city, only to convince him to come back home.

Of course she hadn't told him that right away. In fact, Gendry was comfortably sat, sipping a bottle of cheap vodka when he had felt someone bump into him. He had looked behind to see who would be blind enough to walk into somebody as big as him, and found a small, scrawny creature. He had thought it was a boy at first : she was all bundled up in a sweatshirt thrice too large, her hood up, and in a pair of wide baggy pants. Gendry had frowned, anxious to see a boy this young into a party so wild (despite his size, he had never taken advantage of it and cared for those smaller than him) but all his kind feelings fainted when he heard :

« Eh ! Watch yourself dude ! »

Surprised by her boldness, he had only frowned and said :

« _You_ watch yourself. You're the one that bumped into me. »

« I did not, » she claimed in an indignant voice. « It's you who take too much space. »

Intrigued – the ones that picked at him weren't usually the size of a rat – he had focused his attention on her. Her hood hid most of her face but he could still see the grey eyes that glowed in its shadow, her sharp, long features and the air of stubborn determination they carried. He also saw the fear she tried so hard to conceal under her apparent boldness.

It was a girl, no one could make the mistake. Her boy clothes hid her for a while but didn't survive a deeper examination. He cursed internally. It was already bad if she had been a boy but it was even worse for girls. The only ones that went here were either well prepared or already too damaged to care. And in any case much older.

« You know, you shouldn't insult people bigger than you. That's rude. »

« Then I wouldn't get to insult anyone, » she replied like he had said a nonsense.

Gendry couldn't help but snort. But he went back to serious.

« No, I mean you really shouldn't. It's dangerous here. You should go back to your house. I can show you the exit if you want. »

He was reaching to grab her shoulder but she slapped his hand away. For a brief time something he concluded was fear crossed her face, but she answered with her usual bravado :

« I don't need you. I just want to find... Nevermind. Leave me alone ! »

Before he could move she had jumped back into the crowd. He cursed, trying to see where she went, but there was too much people and she was too tiny. He pondered the idea of letting her (it was her choice after all, it wasn't like she didn't know where she was) but ultimately his conscience forced him to get up and go look for her.

It took an hour for him to find her. He was ready to give up when he saw her jacket. Her back was to him but he clearly saw the older guy. He was grabbing her arm and told her things he couldn't hear because of the noise and the music around. Gendry didn't like the look on his face, and neither did the girl because she was trying to pull away from him. Infortunately he was much stronger than her, and his grip on her was iron.

Gendry came close to them and put a hand on her shoulder.

« What's going on here ? »

The man gave him a dark look, ready to fight if needed, but he changed his mind when he saw his size.

« Who are you ? » he asked aggressivly.

« I'm her brother, » he lied. « Let go of her. »

The man did as he was bid, even if he shot him a disgusted look.

« Your sister ? Damn dude, what wer' ya thinking ? I wouldn't bring my sister in Flea Bottom, that I wouldn't. »

After these words he went into the crowd and blended in. Gendry turned back to see the girl's face. She was shocked, wide-eyed and shaking slightly, but in her defense she didn't cried. He leaned until his eyes were on the same level as hers and asked :

« Why are you here ? »

« I'm looking for Jon- for my brother, » she blurted out, finally understanding they were in a dangerous place and he was trying to help her. « He's sixteen and he looks like me, we have the same hair and eyes. » She throwed him an imploring look. « Could you help me find him ? I'm really worried. He doesn't need to come here. »

Despite himself Gendry couldn't help but admire her bravery and the love she was feeling for this Jon. It wasn't every little girl that would sink into Flea Bottom to help her brother.

It took them quite a long time to find him ; in the end they saw him smoking with a group of other teenagers, each more creepy-looking than the others. When he saw that Arya (that was her name) had followed him he became furious, more by fear than anger, but she wasn't the kind to be shut down so easily and they started to argue hotly. Gendry stayed a little backward, feeling slightly awkward, until he decided to tap lightly on Jon's shoulder.

The guy turned to him with an air of rabid dog.

« Who are you ? And what do you want ? » he barked.

Any feeling of sympathy he might have felt fainted, and he answered in a cold voice :

« I'm the guy that protected your sister while you were here, too busy being stoned to care who might follow you. »

Jon was graceful enough to look ashamed, but he didn't wait his apologies to continue.

« Look, I don't care why you're here but what's sure is _she_ shouldn't be, » he said pointing at Arya. « Bring her back where the fuck you live and be careful next time. T'is not a place for little girls. »

« I'm not a little girl ! » she had shouted.

_Yeah, that's the problem,_ he thought but before he could say it her brother had taken her shoulder and was leading her towards the exit. He put a hand on his shoulder as they went past him, thanked him and then they were gone.

***

Their next meeting was absolutely fortuitous. It was some months after the party (eight exactly). He was working on one of Mott's car when the entrance bell had rang. He didn't pay attention and kept working but as the bell rang once, twice, thrice more he throwed his dirty gloves and went back to see who it was. He cursed his boss in his head, knowing very well the bastard was probably asleep in his office.

At the counter stood a tall man in his mid-thirties. Despite his average-looking face (not handsome but not bad-looking either), a sense of strength exuded from him. His grey eyes, oddly familiar, were those of a man in power. If Gendry needed another proof that he wasn't from Flea Bottom, he just had to look at his suit. It wasn't the cheap kind people around here wore when they had to, but more the classy type of everyday's suits, the ones where everything, to the quality of the fabric to the good cut screamed « money ».

Gendry wasn't used to have this kind of customers, and he felt slightly unnerved under his stony glare.

« Hi, what can I do for ya ? » he grumbled.

« Hello, » the man greeted (damn, even his tone was classy). « I need your help. I was driving and suddenly the motor started fuming and crashing, and I had to pull over. Luckily your garage was just here. Could you take a look ? »

It was turned as a question but he knew it was a command.

« Sure, » he grunted, wiping his hand on a dirty towel and heading towards the door.

Outside, the most beautiful car he had ever seen waited. It was the kind of car he dreamed as a boy, when he still had dreams about his future. And next to it, leaning on the hood...

« Arya ? »

The girl's head snapped up. Yes, it was definitively her. She was better dressed (even if it was a plain tee-shirt and jeans) but these eyes were easy to recognize.

« _Arya_ ? » Behind him, the man gave him an interrogative (and slightly suspicious) look. « You know my daughter young man ? »

He went past him and stood before her in a protective attitude. Gendry met her eyes, and she shook her head frantically.

« Ye... No. »

The man raised an eyebrow.

« Well, not really. She was lost and I gave her the way. Can't call that « knowing » her. »

He looked at him, and Gendry felt like his soul was passed under a microscope. But what he saw must have pleased the man because he turned back towards his daughter.

« And what were you doing here, young lady ? You know your mother would be crazy if she knew. »

« I took the wrong bus, » she lied (it must not have been the first time because it went easily). « And he told which one I had to take to get back home. That's it. Nothing to worry about. »

But her father didn't look convinced.

« Hmm. We'll see about that later. » (He turned back to Gendry.) « So can you check on my car ? How long do you think it will take ? »

He turned around to lift up the hood. Arya mouthed him a « thank you » and went after him. Sighing he got closer.

Turned out the car needed serious repair, so they left it there and took a bus home. Not before he made the man fill a record though, and he nearly choked on his coffee when he saw the name « STARK » written on it.

The Stark compagny was one of the most influent firm of the country – and thus the Stark family was one of the wealthiest. It was said the CEO, Eddard Stark, took up the family business (a small firm in the North) and changed it into a huge compagny, thanks especially to its fusion with the one of his friend Robert Baratheon, owner of the Stag Enterprise. They were the top of everything – something Gendry could never have guessed with Arya only.

He had thought Eddard Stark would make his car be picked up and sent in a much fancier garage but curiously he never did. He had only asked to be warned when it would be ready. Gendry was puzzled but also happy – he never had the occasion to work on this kind of car. He usually had to deal with old garbages barely functionning or cars so tampered he couldn't even guess the original model.

He kept it a month. He had taken his time, knowing it would probably be a one-time occasion, but at one point he had to give it back. This time his boss took care of the last details (he amused himself for a while to see him simper). He was watching them, quietly sipping coffee, when he felt something tug at his shirt. He lowered his eyes and startled when he saw Arya next to him.

« God ! For how many time have you been here ? »

« I'm here since we arrived, stupid. » She scowled. « Am I so invisible ? »

« No, no. I'm sorry it's me. How are you today ? »

But she didn't answer his question, going instead right where she wanted.

« Listen, I wanted to thank you for last time. When you covered for me, » she added when she saw his incredulity. « My dad would be furious if he knew, with me but also with Jon. »

« He wouldn't be wrong, » he couldn't help but say. « Your brother should have been more careful. This is a very dangerous place, and something very bad could have happened to you. »

Her eyes veiled for a second, probably remembering her encounter with the old man. She shook her head to clear her mind.

« I know. He got one, by the way. My brother Robb kicked his ass so hard Jon says he can't feel his left butt-cheek anymore. »

That made him smile.

« How many brothers do you have ? »

« Four, » she said proudly. « And a sister, Sansa, but we get along less well. Anyway, as a mean to thank you I want to grant you a dare. »

« A what ? »

« A dare. That means you can ask me whatever you want and I'll do my best to give it to you. »

He laughed.

« Aren't you a little young ? It's not like you had a lot of connections ! » (Well, she probably had more than him.)

« I'm not young stupid, I'm eleven ! »

Gendry amused himself a second of her puffy face, red from indignation, but said in a half-convinced voice :

« Ok, not-young girl. I get a dare in my pocket. »

***

Despite every odds, it had been five years since their first meeting and they were still hanging out together. He had honestly thought she would forget about him (and his dare) as soon as she would walk out of the garage, but curiously she had started to show up at random times at his work, then his apartment when he had showed it to her. At first they would meet only in his neighborhood (by day of course), but as the months and years went by he sometimes went to her house.

Her mother (and sister, but she quickly grew used of him) wasn't very pleased with her daughter's acquaintances ; but as he had heard, her father talked to her and assured he was a good guy. And Gendry always did his best to be as polite and respectful as his education allowed him, so she had warmed a little and tolerated him more and more, until his presence in the house became as usual as the one of her own children. Her brothers however got along with him really well, especially Jon and Robb – not only because they were almost the same age but also because they knew what he had done for their little sister.

Though he suspected, at first, that Arya chose him as her friend to annoy her mother, they had quickly discovered they had quite a lot in common. They were both fiercely protective of those lesser than them, they both liked cars (though Arya was more into motorbikes), both had a passion for instant noodles and rock bands that nobody besides them knew, and so much more. Actually, Gendry was surprised of how well they got along, with their age difference. But it made no matter and as years went by, their friendship only grew stronger.

He had never used his dare though. She had asked several times, when she thought one of her father's work acquaintances could help him, but he had always refused. He believed in hard work and didn't want to owe his success to string pulling. No, he kept it for something special. Arya however, after she received several refusals, seemingly forgot about it and the subject hadn't been broached in years.

Nonetheless, these last few months he found himself questionning this friendship. Not that he started to like her less ; on the contrary, he liked her a little _too much_. Sometimes his eyes wandered on parts of her body they shouldn't. When she leaned and her shirt opened a little, and he could see the top of her breast – and all he wanted to do was take them in his hands, touch them and suck them hard. Or when she went back from her yoga's classes and her pants was clinging to her legs and ass, and she was bending to take something in the fridge and he couldn't take his eyes away (once she had even caught him ; she had laughed, gave a smack on his head and called him a pig). Or the rare times she wore a dress, these pretty dresses that suggested more than they covered and all he wanted to do was hike the damn thing up and take her against the wall. She was haunting his days, his nights, and he couldn't count the number of time he had woken up hard and aching.

But he knew he couldn't. He knew that whatever he did, she would always see him as her friend, almost a brother. He was the one she pillow-fought at four a.m in the morning until one of her parents came yelling at them. He was her partner in crime (especially when it came to bother Joffrey Baratheon, ex-boyfriend of her sister and #1 Jackass), or the one where she crashed when her mother's expectations were too heavy for her. She would never see him as anything else than her confident, and if for a time it had been enough he started to feel more and more sad.

He also had a hard time because of all the guys buzzing around her. She had more affinities with boys and spent a lot of time with them ; but she never seemed to realize when one wanted to be more, and it unnerved him to see how blind she was sometimes.

Through the years, Arya went to a rather cute girl to a gorgeous woman, and didn't seem to realize it. He thought it might have to do with her low self-estime – she had confessed once that she had been bullied as a kid for not being pretty, and the comparisons with her sister had deeply wounded her – but she still considered herself ugly.

Gendry had to disagree. First her hair, that she kept short when they had met, now fell on a cascade of loose brown curls on her back (he sometimes wondered what he would be like to run his hands into this mass, to pull at it and make her gasp). Her face had lost all its baby fat and her features were as ciseled as ice, with high cheekbones and a strong jaw. Her practice of martial arts three times a week had shaped her a toned body and gave her a certain grace. And her eyes... He loved them, her almond-shaped grey eyes that were always so easy to read.

But she was totally oblivious of that, and her opinion about clothes and taking care of herself hadn't changed a bit in all these years. She only wore dresses when her mother made her (pretty little dress with a lot of flounces and lace) or to annoy her father (with really short and tight dresses that made him scream – she usually took them off once he was out of sight though, and changed for something more practical). It was rare she made an effort for someone, and especially not for him.

That's why she hadn't even bothered to dress this morning. She was still wearing her pajamas, a flowing cotton trouser and grey tank top. Her hair were pinned high on her head but without the slighest intention of styling, and looked like a bird nest. She was playing at a video game, and some of her expressions were... interesting (he especially liked the one where she had her mouth wide-opened and the same intelligence in her eyes than in a cow's). After all these years of friendship, she didn't even try to make efforts, and he had seen all her facets (some quite disturbing to be honest) a long time ago.

But it didn't repelled him. In fact, he never thought her as beautiful as when she let her guard down and allowed him into her privacy.

« You know, you could at least dress when I come, » he said as he sat on her bed

She only shrugged.

« Who cares ? It's only you. You saw me like that a thousand times. »

« Yes, still it isn't a reason to inflict it upon me again. I could get offended you know. »

She rose an eyebrow and turned a little to look at him.

« Are you ? »

Her tank top was clinging to her chest, and Gendry could see her nipples pointing underneath. He gulped laboriously and teared his gaze away before she could realize he was staring.

« No, » he blurted out, trying to ignore his hardening cock in his pants.

« Then it's fine, » she concluded.

She went back to her game, not realizing the storm in her friend's mine. _Pervert !_ screamed a voice in his head that sounded remarkably like Ned Stark's. _She's your friend, and she's four years younger. You could be one of her brothers ! You don't deserve her !_

« Gendry, you okay ? »

Arya, after pausing her game, had crept closer to him and was sitting at his feet. She crossed her arms on his knees and put her head on them, staring intently, and her eyes burned like a thousand fires. Her lips, so full and red, were drawing him uncontrollably. He turned his gaze away.

« Yeah I'm fine, » he muttered.

« Liar, » she accused, and for once there was no trace of mockery in her tone. « You've been acting weird for weeks now. What's going on ? »

Now her brows furrowed, and she was even cuter. It asked everything he had not to clasp her face and crash his lips hard on hers.

« Arya, » he stuttered, « do you... Do you remember when we met at the garage ? When you gave me a dare ? »

She looked surprised, then started to laugh.

« God, you remember that ? It was... »

« I dare you to kiss me. »

The words fell heavy on them. She looked at him wide-eyed, her mouth closed (in another time Gendry would have congratuled himself for being able to make Arya Stark wordless), motionless. And suddenly, he felt a rush of panic and regret flow through him. Oh God, what if she said no ? What if it changed their relationship forever ? What if she found him disgusting, she hated him and commanded him to leave and never come back again ?

All focused on his thoughts, he didn't realize that she was standing up, slowly sliding along his body, her hands wandering on his chest to settle on his shoulders. It was only when she settled on his lap he woke up from his trance.

« Arya, I didn't mean... »

« A dare is a dare, » she whispered, playfully bumping her nose against his.

She took her time. Her hands explored his face, running along his jaw, and soon she replaced them with her lips and teeth. She brushed his lips once, twice, but when he reached for her she drew back, laughing. The third time she smiled and crashed her lips onto his.

He never knew something so bad could be so _good_. Arya was giving all she had, like in everything she did, and soon their lips were red and swollen but they didn't care. They fought with mouth and lips and teeth and never would they have stopped if if wasn't for air.

They looked at each other, panting and contented, and a soft smile blossomed on Arya's face.

« What's so funny ? » he asked.

« Nothing, » she said as she pushed him onto his back, her sly hips straddling his crotch. « I just thought you'd never ask. »

 


End file.
